Policy Would Open 3 Schools Faster

The Broward County School Board will consider a new policy on Friday that could allow three new schools to open by the middle of next fall in Pembroke Pines and Davie.

The design-build policy would enable the district to hire a partnership of architects and contractors to build a school, often from a prototype design.

The district now hires architects to design a project from scratch and then hires builders who are overseen by the architects.

Proponents say design-build reduces time-consuming squabbling among the architects and contractors, allowing schools to be built in half the usual time and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Critics dispute whether savings exist, and they warn that the architect no longer acts as the district's watchdog for sloppy and unsafe work.

Even more time and money may be saved because Broward plans to hire a team working on a Palm Beach County school and use its design with virtually no changes, said Associate Superintendent Ray de la Feuilliez.

The three schools would have opened in August if the School Board had approved them last month as planned, de la Feuilliez said.

But the district's attorney is waiting for the state Department of Education to decide whether one district can borrow another's plans or whether it must advertise for bids on the plans.

School Board members are beginning the complicated process to approve a policy so that they can act quickly if Tallahassee approves the plan.

Wrangling also continues with Pembroke Pines officials about how much money would be raised by a special taxing district to pay for the schools.

The 10 a.m. meeting on Friday at School Board headquarters, 600 SE Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale, replaces one scheduled for Tuesday. School Board members want to attend a Florida School Boards Association meeting on Tuesday.